1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for the care of contact lenses including a contact lens holder immersible in a container of treatment liquid and having means for agitating the treatment liquid.
2. Description of Related Art
In known devices of this type (German Patent Publication No. OS 34 10 400 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,623,492), the treatment liquid is agitated by rotation of the contact lens holder, rotation being effected manually by means of a rotatably mounted cover and gearing between the cover and the contact lens holder. In this arrangement agitation or stirring of the treatment liquid is relatively limited and, for this reason, so is the washing of the contact lenses and the dissolution of any tablets or powders in the treatment liquid. Manual operation has proved unsatisfactory in practice.
Accordingly, it has been proposed in copending application Ser. No. 069,794 filed on July 7, 1987 by Thomas, which is herein incorporated by reference to agitate the treatment liquid using a cylindrical stirrer which surrounds the contact lens holder in the container for the treatment liquid--the contact lens holder and the stirrer in this case being arranged in a multiple-part housing with an electric motor and gearing for driving the stirrer in one part of the housing and a battery for powering the motor being arranged in another part of the housing.